Page 119 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10

Saturday

A loud banging noise made me groan. Or maybe it was my pounding headache. It was like I could feel my heart beating behind my eye sockets.

I put my arm over my eyes as the banging intensified. What the hell?

My phone started buzzing incessantly.

The noises collided in my head like the worst symphony in history.

“Darling.”

The word was a nightmare. Mainly because of the woman speaking it. Isabella. My stomach churned at just the thought of her beside me.

But it was just a dream. Isabella wasn’t here. I’d started over. I was in Delaware. Safely in my bed. I had Penny… My thoughts came to a halt. I didn’t have Penny. I’d fucked everything up. I scrunched my eyes tight.

The pounding noise and buzzing made my skull ache worse than my chest.

“Darling, are you awake?” Isabella’s cold hand touched my bicep.

My eyes flew open. She was staring down at me with a fake smile plastered to her face. It wasn’t a nightmare. She was here. And I wasn’t anywhere even close to being safe in my bed back in Delaware. Because I was ass naked in Isabella’s bed.

No. No, no, no. What the hell did I do?

Isabella reached out to touch my face and I pushed myself backward. I fell off the bed, tangled up in her sheets.

Fuck.

“James, the bed is getting cold.”

The sound of her voice combined with the word bed made me dry heave.

“What are you doing on the floor? Let’s go for round two.”

Round two? What the fuck? I didn’t even remember round one.

She pushed the strap of her satin nightgown off her shoulder, exposing her breast.

I stood up and my elbow collided with the lamp on her nightstand. It fell off and shattered.

“What the hell, James?!”

I put my hand out to block my view of her while I held my other hand in front of my junk.

“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. Now come back to bed. I want you to do that thing again.”

What thing? What the fuck did I do? I didn’t remember anything. “You…you…”

“I what?” she said and lowered her other strap.

I didn’t know. I didn’t know what the fuck had happened.

“Seduced my husband ?”

I dry heaved again. “Put your clothes back on,” I said.

She frowned. “That’s not what you were saying last night. Let me give you a massage to make you feel all better.” She pushed the sheets down. “I know how much you love my hands all over you.”

I shook my head. The buzzing started up again and I glanced at my phone on the nightstand.

Ian was calling. And pieces of last night started to fall back into place.

Ian had driven me to New York to talk to Isabella’s father.

But she’d answered the door instead. And then she’d handed me a drink and that… that was all I could remember.

“Oh, I know what you need.” Her fingers traced the inside of her thigh, pushing up her nightgown.

I definitely did not need that. “You drugged me last night.”

She laughed. “Nonsense. We spent the whole night talking. Reminiscing about happy times. Until our yearning for each other turned into a night full of passion. The things you did to me in this bed…”

“I didn’t sleep with you!”

“Of course you did.”

“I think I’d remember fucking the devil.”

She laughed again. “You’re hilarious.”

“I didn’t fuck you, Isabella.”

“James, you’re naked.”

I looked back down at myself again. That didn’t necessarily mean… Fuck!

“Why else would you be naked in my childhood bed other than to ravish my body?”

I ignored her as I found my discarded sweatpants on the floor. I pulled them on, not taking the time to look for my boxers. I grabbed my t-shirt too. “I didn’t sleep with you,” I said again. I couldn’t have. I wouldn’t have done that.

“Then what on earth do you think happened?”

I pulled my t-shirt on.

“Really, James. What do you think happened?”

“I think you drugged me!”

“And then what? Stripped you naked? Put you in my bed? Just to set up an elaborate scene?”

“That sounds exactly like something you’d do.”

She pouted. “I didn’t rape you, James.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Didn’t you though?”

My heart started racing.

She crawled toward me on the bed. “You think I slipped something in your drink? And then fucked you without your consent? You think I raped you?”

The word echoed around in my head. I was seconds away from hurling all over her pink comforter.

“I have a different scenario that you might like better. You insisted on taking me to bed to have your way with me. And I graciously let you.”

Not in a million years. “You’re psychotic.”

“Would you stop saying that!” Her calm facade finally cracked.

I didn’t remember saying it to her before. But clearly she remembered. Which meant I’d said it to her multiple times last night. When she…what? Fucked me when I was barely conscious? I was definitely going to throw up.

The banging noise resumed somewhere in the distance when my phone stopped buzzing. I had a feeling Ian was seconds away from breaking into the apartment.

But I felt frozen in place. This couldn’t have happened. I couldn’t have let this happen. “You’re lying.”

“Nope.”

“Yes you are.” I didn’t care if she did drug me. I wouldn’t have slept with her. I wouldn’t have ruined my chances with Penny. Thinking about her felt like a knife in my chest. I wouldn’t have fucking done this. I came here to fix my relationship with Penny, not light it on fucking fire.

“I have proof,” Isabella said as she finally pulled her nightgown back up. She climbed off the bed and over to a little trashcan by her desk. She lifted up a condom that was filled and tied off. “The only proof I need, really.”

I shook my head. “That isn’t necessarily mine.”

She laughed. “You think I’d fuck someone else and steal their disgusting condom?” She threw it back in the trash. “I don’t think so, darling.”

I just stood there. I didn’t do this.

“I only made you sheath up because you’ve been parading around fucking your students.”

She couldn’t possibly know about me and Penny. Like an idiot, I just continued to stand there.

“Don’t look so surprised. What kind of wife would I be if I didn’t have eyes on my husband at all times? I know all about Penny Taylor.”

Fuck.

“Your little whore.”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what? Talk about the trollop you’re cheating on your wife with?”

“We’re divorced!”

“No. As we both know, I haven’t signed the papers yet. And after last night, I see no reason to. Clearly you’re still infatuated with me.”

Isabella had lost her damned mind. I grabbed my phone and walked past her.

Her fake nails dug into my forearm before I could open the door. “I bet you love that she calls you Professor Hunter. You’ve always loved what you can’t have.”

I pulled my arm out of her grip.

“You’re sick, James. You just like the chase. We both know the truth. You’re addicted to her.”

I wasn’t.

“You need help.”

“The only thing I need is to be as far away as fucking possible from you .”

“That’s not true.”

“You just…you…”

“You can’t even say it. Because it isn’t true.”

No, I couldn’t say it because I couldn’t even wrap my head around the fact that she’d do that to me. I didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t want to believe I let it happen.

“Now how about we get back into bed?” she said.

“Go to hell, Isabella.”

“If you keep pursuing this divorce, I’m going to tell the whole world what kind of man you are. I hope you don’t get arrested for preying on young girls.”

“She’s 20.” Almost.

Isabella laughed. “Not when you started fucking her. And her age doesn’t even matter. It’s the fact that she’s your student. In one of your classes. It breaks all sorts of ethical guidelines at whatever shitty university you’re teaching at.”

“Actually, it doesn’t.”

“It doesn’t mean you won’t be fired to prevent a scandal. I mean…cheating on your doting wife with a student? I’ll ruin you, James. I’ll take every cent to your name. Everything you care about. And I’ll ruin her life too. You know I will.”

I didn’t care about what slander she spread about me. I didn’t care about the money. All I cared about was Penny. And I’d do whatever it took to protect her from Isabella’s wrath.

“Forget about her. And come back home.”

This wasn’t my home.

“Come back to me.” She put her hand on my chest.

She wasn’t my home.

I took a deep breath. “This is the last time I’m going to ask nicely,” I said. “Sign the damn papers.”

“That was hardly asking nicely. How about we get back into bed and…”

“Get your filthy hands off me.” I pushed her hand off my chest.

“You didn’t say that last night,” she said with a smile.

“I didn’t say anything last night because you made me black out!”

“Right. And then I had my wicked way with you without your permission.” She winked at me. “As if anyone would ever believe that. I bet Penny won’t. She’ll see right through all your lies. All your secrets. Does she even know you’re an addict?”

There was a small part of me that wanted to wrap my hands around Isabella’s neck. Wring the life out of her.

“I can’t wait to see what she’ll say when you tell her you fucked your wife. While the two of you were on a break.”

How the fuck did she know we were on a break?

“And if I find out that you tell Penny some fabricated fib about what happened last night, I’ll make sure she knows the truth.

That you couldn’t keep your hands off your wife .

And I will find out if you tell her otherwise.

Maybe I’ll stop by the class you have together to tell her. It’s at 8 a.m. on Monday, yes?”

How did she know anything about my life in Delaware? I’d taken every precaution…

Except when it came to Penny. The beach trip. The country club under my name. Anyone could have seen us. And I’d let my guard down because I was so wrapped up in her. So preoccupied. Addicted.

“Checkmate,” Isabella said. She opened up her bedroom door. “I’ll let all my friends know you’re coming back to the city. Say hi to Daddy on the way out.”